Blink and You'll Miss It
by Afterword
Summary: SasuSaku& "This year we decided on Mind Over Matter. New member, New name." It's a contest that decides everything in a school where the students live for the thrill. It's the Blink, and when 2 teams come head to head, who will be the first to back down?


Blink and You'll Miss It

**Leaf Preparatory Academy**

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_**Leaf Preparatory Academy**_, commonly abbreviated as "L-Prep" by its students, is a private school in Leaf City, California. It has been the setting of a number of movies, and is known across the country for being an elite preparatory school.

Contents (hide)

1 History

2 Statistics

3 Blink / "The Battle"

4 Controversies

**History**

Leaf Preparatory Academy was founded by William Broning in 1954. Originally, the school was called Broning High School and was also a public school. However, once a scandal about the founder involving adultery was uncovered, the name was switched to the current one. The school was moved to the private sector in the mid-1970's, when the school district was considering shutting down the Academy. Rather than risk this possibility, the faculty of Leaf Preparatory Academy decided to single-handedly revamp the school into a tuition-accepting private school.

**Statistics**

L-Prep has consistently mid-to high ranged test scores, with an API number of 835. The tuition for the school is 15,000 dollars per year, or 7.5K a semester. However, a majority of the students have received financial aid of some sort.

The Academy is very diverse, with a population that is 63 Caucasian, 14 Asian, 9 African-American, 12 Latino, and 2 Other (this includes mixed race and those who did not specify.) It is a medium-sized school with a student body of approximately 1370, and a 300 person faculty. The typical schedule consists of 6 classes, and students are required to take gym or another physical class each semester. The average class size is about 30 people.

The school offers both CPM and Traditional Math up to Calculus BC, and over 20 AP Classes. The average student will take 3 AP classes in his or her high school career.

**Blink/ "The Battle"**

Blue versus Pink, commonly abbreviated as "Blink" or referred to as "The Battle", is the yearly contest that L-Prep has been holding since 1960. The concept of the competition is males against females, in a 5-day event. Normally, "Blink" week is the last week of October and peaks at Halloween. (This is obviously an example of bad planning because Halloween changes from year to year. Stupid administrators.) During this week, a team of boys and a team of girls compete in 4 different contests.

The first day of the week is the Opening Ceremony, in which the members of each team are introduced. Each team has three people, who are typically selected through a rigorous selection process. The Opening Ceremony glorifies the Champion(s) of last year's competition and also de-crowns them, effectively making the school an equal place (for once). The march is usually led by the Principal, and each team can be accompanied with an "entourage" of 12 people, all led by the respective team leaders.

Tuesday is normally the artistic challenge. Some of the past challenges have been to create a sculpture using only the objects in 5 students' backpacks, to make a mural to be auctioned off on Ebay using a package of 100 crayons in 3 hours, etc. The finished products are judged by a panel of 9 judges. For the most part, these judges are prominent people in the city or county, but there will usually be one celebrity guest. Such guests have included Kristi Yamaguchi and George Clooney. (Not to mention they some with a hefty price tag that eats up our tuition.) This event is worth 20 points.

Wednesday is the athletic challenge that usually involves some sort of relay. In the 2007 Blink competition, the relay involved different stations around different places in the school. The stations included a tae kwon doe master (you had to defeat him), a glass wall that the contestants had to scale with no rope, and a ridiculous climb up the side of the hill that the school was built on. This event is worth 40 points, and is usually the most popular event of the week.

Thursday is the academic challenge, which tests the smarts of the students. On their open air football field, the competitors are asked questions in a typical Quiz Bowl format, with buzzers that were purchased from the makers of Jeopardy! This round is the one most prone to cheating, especially from audience members screaming the answers. After the Quiz-Bowl style questioning, the each of the 6 competitors must deliver a 5-minute speech in front of the school, to be scored on a scale of 1-10 by the judges. Notable topics have been the practicality of Spaceship Travel (Team Halo, Men, 1996), what Paris Hilton Will Be Like When She's Old (Lipgloss and Nail Polish, Women, 2003), and the Opression of Men in Today's Society (MEN RULE!, Men, 1983). This event is worth 40 points.

Friday is when the awards are given out. Prior to the awards ceremony, none of the scores were released, so this is almost always a time of great tension. (Unless one of the teams completely messed up). Awards given out are not limited exclusively to the competitors, and include "Most Spirit", "Most Athletic", and "Smartest." Needless to say, the team members still often garner many of these medals. The last award to be given out is to the winning team of the Battle. The team receives a trophy and is allowed to rip up the opposing team's banner.

Unlike in other schools, the Academy takes Blink very seriously, and the losing team faces many penalties. For example, if the women won, then the principal would be a woman. For this reason, there are always two qualified Principals on hand. Right now, they are Tsunade and Jiraiya. The winning gender is also allowed to have free dress whenever they would like, while the losing team is confined to a uniform for every week but Blink Week. The winning team often hazes the losing side, and the faculty tends to turn a blind eye to this. The valedictorian of the year is always from the winning side, and if this is statistically not correct, the other person gets booted down to salutatorian. The Student Body President, Vide President, and Treasurer are always from the winning gender, and the losing side is delegated to the position of secretary.

In the 48 competitions that L-Prep has had, the male team has won 26 times, and the female team has won 22 times. Last year, the male team won, although the score was the closest that it had been in years, differing by only 2 points.

One person from each gender emcees the contest. The selection process for this position is long and arduous. (HANDS OFF THAT JOB IS MINE!)

**Controversies**

Not surprisingly, there has been plenty of controversy in the school, primarily over the Blink contest.

In 1999, the student Angelo Smithson was dropped from his position as Valedictorian because the males had lost the Battle that year. The Smithson family filed a lawsuit and took it up to the state courts. However, the school's policy on Blink was sustained and the have been no more complaints.

Uniforms were also a major cause for controversy. When L-Prep first changed from a public to private school, the faculty changed the rules to mandate that guys wear slacks and polos and girls wear blouses and slacks or skirts, all in neutral colors. Since then, the rules have been modified, especially for the winning team of Blink. Men, even on the losing side, are now allowed to wear denim (with no holes or rips) and a collared shirt, while girls are simply prohibited from wearing tank tops and skirts not to their fingertips. For the winning team of Blink, these rules do not apply.

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**//Chapter 1**

** --**Do You Call My Name?

It was October 14th, and Haruno Sakura –

"Pick that up," a grinning sophomore boy said, pointing towards his pencil on the ground.

--was so ready for the end of the month to come so she could go pound every male in the school's heads into the ground. As she picked up the damn pencil and handed it to the annoyingly flirty guy who was unsubtly hitting on her, she mentally calculated the days until Blink Week, and was relieved to see that it was as close as she had hoped (and feared).

School had started a month and a half ago and she was now beginning the most stressful year of her life. No, not even beginning. Sakura was sorry to admit that she was already drowning in stress. Along with a full load of four AP classes, she felt like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders as Blink week neared.

Last year was her first time participating in Blink, and she had done surprisingly well and had contributed to a high score. (Disappointingly, though, they didn't win. Which she did feel slightly guilty about because if she had answered just one more question right or offended one less judge with her speech…well let's just say that she wouldn't be wearing these khaki slacks. Disgusting.) But last year there had been another captain, a senior. And this year, well. There wasn't. She was the Captain. And boy did her life look bleak at this point.

It was 10:45, in the middle of break and she was sitting in a classroom (D5) with about 15 other people, waiting for the rest of their party to arrive. It was the Blue versus Pink briefing, and everyone who was involved in the assembly was invited. This included, of course, the teams, but also the coordinators, the emcees, the fundraisers, the ASB officials, etc.

Students filed in, the guys in colorful shorts and T-shirts, the girls formal-looking in black slacks, black flats, and pale-colored colored shirts. Two girls took spots next to Sakura, and one sat behind her. She swiveled and smiled at Tenten, who was one of the members of their team. Even though she was a senior, she was completely all right with Sakura being Captain, considering that she certainly had enough stress of her own to deal with. (20 applications sound easy to you?). The girl was tomboyishly pretty, with a pixie-like face and brown hair that had recently been shorn into wispy pieces framing her face.

The pink-haired girl glanced to her right, and saw the third member of their team, Hyuuga Hinata. The navy-haired girl was wearing a three-quarters sleeve polo shirt and black slacks, hunched over at the desk with a notebook in front of her, nervously sketching something. Unlike Tenten and Sakura, this was her first time in Blink and she had arrived ready to take meticulous notes (just like she did every other class).

A woman with curly black hair tapped a ruler twice on a L-Prep coffee mug, and cleared her throat. "Hello, Blue versus Pink participants. I'd like to first take attendance to make sure that no one, dare I say, '_ditched_' this very important meeting."The students in the room noticeably relaxed, their body posture becoming much more loose. Sakura's head lolled to the side and she rested it on the back of her seat, falling farther down the slippery desk-seats in the process.

"Aburame Shino, tech crew."

"Here."

And so on, until the attendance was finally, finally done. The woman-in-charge spoke again. "Alright, everyone, my name is Yuuhi Kurenai, and I'm glad to see you guys all here and ready to get briefed about this year's Blink. Which hopefully the girls will win because I am sick of Asuma being the department head."

Before the students could respond to her blatant bias, she said, "First, I'd like to ask, how many of you are new to the Blink?" Perhaps a third of the thirty-person room raised their hands, some of them looking timid or shy, others looking sheepish. "Alright then, firstly I'll introduce you to this years emcees. Both of last year's were seniors, although I must say that they weren't really good, so we had to choose new ones. Guys, your emcee is Uzumaki Naruto."

Cheers and boos filled the small room as the blonde guy stood up, pumping his fists. Distinctly through the noise, one could hear a piercing line, "Seriously, that's all they could come up with this year?"

The blonde swiveled and his eyes immediately focused on a smug-looking sophomore boy, probably a techie, with spiky dark brown hair. "Yeah well, if you're so good, then why didn't you make it to emcee?" Naruto retorted. The sophomore now looked uncomfortable, and the entire room snickered, as there were whispers of "Yeah, he got cut in the first round of the audition. Lammmeee." Then he flushed and looked away, only to turn to a haughty, laughing face: another blonde, a girl.

"And girls, your emcee is Yamanaka Ino, who is also the president of the Junior Class this year." Vague clapping filled the room and Ino waved cheerily and winked. Yuuhi Kurenai continued, "Okay, let's get down to the real business."

"I don't want any cheating or rigging in this at all, okay, children? If either team does this, not only will you fail my class, which, if I remind you, is AP English Literature, you will also suffer painful death for humiliating the school." She picked up a large pile of silver-and-red colored packets and displayed one to the class. "These are your ultimate handbooks for the Blink this year. I expect all of you to take these rules very seriously and _read the entire handbook_. I _do not_ want to have to explain all of the rules to you again the day before the event."

"Tech people, where are you?" About 8 techies, all sporting black shirts, waved from the left side of the room. One of them, an Asian with mildly spiked emo hair, seemed to have brought a laptop with him and was trying to create some sort of light show or slide show or something, presumably for the Blink. "I expect everything to be perfect and amazing. The light show last year was spectacular, good job on that." She pointed at the guy with the laptop. "James, right? Stay after this meeting, I'll give you a pass. I have some ideas that I think you might consider. Also, if you guys need any money or funds or anything, then just come talk to me and I'll try to get it to you as soon as possible." She nodded and then turned toward the opposite side of the room.

"Competitors, have your teams decided on names yet? The ASB –" cheers erupted from the back of the room—"is starting the posters soon and we need the names. Boys are you guys going with your old name?" Kurenai looked towards a cluster of 3 boys, looking cold and aloof.

A longhaired boy spoke, while the other two looked on, bored. "Yes, we have decided to go with the same name. Forward 3."

"Alright then. Girls, last year your name was…" Haruno Sakura spoke, saying "Um, yeah. Last year it was 'L-Prep Lovers'."

A random murmur carried through the room. "Yeah, no surprise that the girls didn't win last year."

"Umhm, thanks. At least our team name isn't some rip off from Hana Yori Dango. F4, F3, either way they're all assholes."

Yuuhi-sensei took control again, starting with "Haruno, language. I thought your choice in diction was higher than that." She smiled. "Anyways, your new name is? Yes, Tenten?"

"This year we decided on Mind Over Matter, to highlight the fact that girls' brains will totally dominate the guys' brawn this year. New member, new name, right?" Hinata blushed and started scribbling furiously on her notepad.

"Yes, I like it. Alright then. ASB, did you get that down? How many posters are you guys making this year? 100? Fliers? Okay, that's good." The bell rang, and Kurenai yelled over it, saying "Don't forget to check out page 5 of the handbook! Something major is changing in the Blink!"

The students filed out of the door, leaving Yuuhi-sensei chatting authoritatively with James the tech-crew leader. The air was buzzing with tension, and it seemed like the meeting had ignited some old rivalries. Someone was whispering in her ear, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. Whatever. They were going to win no matter what.

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School had just ended, and Sakura needed a ride home. Despite the fact that she had gone through driving school, could drive competently enough, and was sixteen, she had yet to go take her driving test and therefore had to mooch rides off of people quite often. Her parents were good about driving her to school, and if she biked or walked it was downhill anyway, but they both had jobs. Still, there was no way that she was walking uphill. Which was why she needed a ride.

If she asked Tenten, she knew that she would have to stay until 5:30 at least because Tenten had lacrosse practice. Hinata had left early today because she had art lessons. There was always the bus but it was full of scary old perverted people...so she was back to option one. Sakura flipped open her phone and punched in the 7 easy-to remember numbers. 511-4121. A picture of Tenten, her hair then long and in two cute French braids, appeared as the phone rang.

The call connected, and Sakura waited for Tenten's signature "Yo."

"Yo, Sakura."

"Hey Tenten! I was wondering if you could give me a ride?"

"I_could_…But you know that you should run those 2 miles uphill, right? I mean Blink is in less than two weeks and you and Hinata need to get toned fast."

"I know, I know."

"Tell you what, how about you drop off your stuff by my gym locker and I'll bring it over in my car around 6, okay? And then you run 2 miles."

"Ten, you're killing me!"

"Says the girl who was drilling me on questions about Jane Eyre in freaking Calculus!"

"Yeah well, you can learn these things. Athleticism is not something that you can learn, and there is no way that I'm going to get fit in 2 weeks."

"Do a program. I'll write one out for you, and its not like you aren't athletic. You run sometimes, right? And if you want to win, then you'd do this program. You do, right?"

"Duh."

"Well, you can't win by failing the athletic challenge! Just think about it. If we win, then the entire year for us will be so much better. And don't you want me to have a good graduation year?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. She could practically picture Tenten's puppy-dog look at that point. "Fine, fine, I'll run. You're being evil, by the way."

Tenten laughed. "Gimme a break, it's my last year to be evil to anyone."

"Haha. I guess I better get going then. I have a couple of miles to run. Ugh."

She closed her phone, stashed it in her pocket, picked up her stuff (backpack, duffel, etc.), and took it into the locker room. Then she changed into some running gear (more flexible shorts and a T-shirt), and took out the door.

And ran.


End file.
